| Grant number: | 11/15984-0 |
| Support type: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |
| Effective date (Start): | May 01, 2012 |
| Effective date (End): | February 28, 2014 |
| Field of knowledge: | Health Sciences - Dentistry |
| Principal Investigator: | Pedro Luiz Rosalen |
| Grantee: | Irlan de Almeida Freires |
| Home Institution: | Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba (FOP). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil |
Abstract Oral cavity is colonized by a mixed microbiota that may overcome host defense mechanisms and act opportunistically, leading to numerous clinical manifestations. Oral candidiasis, superficial fungal infection caused by Candida yeasts, has become more and more prevalent. That might be due to the indiscriminate prophylactic use of antifungal agents. Fungal resistance to drugs allied to the limited availability of therapeutic class of antifungals drive researches to the discovery of new agents from other sources. Literature highlights interest in natural products as a source of new bioactive molecules to control oral affections. Among those products are the essential oils (EO) and their secondary products which present antimicrobial properties. The need to generate and aggregate new information on in vitro antimicrobial activity of EO has motivated the conduction of this study, which involves a species from the Germplasm Bank of the "Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants" - CPMA / UNICAMP (State University of Campinas). Among many species with promising antimicrobial activity, especially as antifungal agents, literature cites Coriandrum sativum L., popularly known as coriander. The present investigation aims at continuing the studies on such aromatic species, which had already been supported by FAPESP. In that context, it is aimed to identify the in vitro antimicrobial activity of the EO and fractions from C. sativum upon Candida yeasts, as well as to identify the classes and bioactive chemical substances present in the EO and in its fractions showing the best activity. Moreover, the EO and fractions will undergo antiproliferative and cytotoxic analyses through cell culture. Finally, it will be verified the ability of C. sativum and its active fractions in inhibiting the proteolytic activity of proteinases and phospholipases produced by Candida albicans. The EO and fractions of C. sativum, extracted of plants from the Germplasm Bank of the CPMA of Multidisciplinary Center for Chemical, Biological and Agricultural Researches (CPQBA)/ UNICAMP, will be evaluated with regards to their antimicrobial activity upon oral Candida spp. yeasts (species: C. albicans - CBS-562, C. dubliniensis - CBS-7987, C. krusei - CBS-573, C. tropicalis - CBS-94 and C. parapsilosis - CBS-604) by using the following methodologies: determination of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) and inhibition of the proteolytic activity of proteases; it will be also verified the antiproliferative activity on human skin fibroblasts ATCC-CRL 2522TM and tumor cell lineages. Classes of the bioactive chemical substances present in the EO and fractions will be identified by RP-HPLC and GC-MS. It is expected to determine the antimicrobial potential of the EO under study upon oral yeasts and to provide additional information to the Germplasm Bank of the CPQBA/ UNICAMP and to literature so contributing to future studies on action mechanism, toxicology and chemical isolation of compounds that might be promising in the production of dental drug formulations. (AU) | |